Royals slip in Kamloops, head to Prince George for double

Prince George isn’t exactly murderers row, but the Victoria Royals playoff hopes could get killed this weekend.

Because eight of the Royals’ remaining 10 games after Prince George is a murderers row.

The Royals enter into Friday and Saturday nights’ tilts with a two point lead over the Cougars. A sweep of both games against the Cougars (19-38-2) would go a long way to help the Royals (18-36-6) when they end the season playing twice against the Spokane Chiefs (32-20-7), three times against the Vancouver Giants (35-22-4), twice against the Portland Winterhawks (42-15-3) and once against the Kelowna Rockets (26-27-8).

Of the four teams battling for the Western Conference’s final two playoff spots, the Everett Silvertips (16-34-9) and Prince George also face a tough schedule in the final stretch. The Thunderbirds might have the best chance at playoff certainty with four games remaining against the Silvertips and two more with the Cougars.

Which leaves the Silvertips, Cougars and Royals fighting for one spot.

In Kamloops on Wednesday the Blazers clipped the Royals 6-3. The Blazers went 7-1 in the eight-game season series. It was the lastet loss for the Royals, who have not been able to take advantage of games against the Cougars and Everett Silvertips, who are also fighting the final playoff spot